


It's Cold Outside

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: 12 Days of Christmas -- Chlollie Style (2010) [11]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Blizzards, Christmas, Cold, F/M, Humor, Innuendo, Kissing, Making Out, Season 8, Snow, body heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:41:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Oliver and Chloe get trapped in a blizzard during Christmas Eve. Season eight AU.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: 12 Days of Christmas -- Chlollie Style (2010) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1747537
Kudos: 6





	It's Cold Outside

Oliver's knuckles were tight around the steering wheel as he drove down the slippery road in the middle of nowhere--literally. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Remind me why _I'm_ driving again?" he asked the pretty blond in his passenger seat.

"Because you insisted on it," she told him, squinting at the map on her lap and holding her phone on top of it as a flashlight, which was about all it was good for considering there was absolutely no signal in that god forsaken place and wincing when the car swerved dangerously, "okay California boy, pull over before you kill us, you'll navigate."

He frowned a little, but didn't argue. She was right. He wasn't used to driving in these particular kinds of extreme conditions. He carefully pulled the car off onto the shoulder of the road and shifted it into park.

Chloe reached for the door and stilled for a second, then tried to push it with both hands and chewed down on her bottom lip when it didn't budge, "okay, either it froze into place, or the wind isn't letting me open it, you try it."

" _Seriously_?" He groaned, then tried his own door, grimacing when it didn't budge either. "Great."

She took a deep breath and nodded, undoing her seatbelt and placing the map and her phone on the dashboard before raising her eyebrows at him, "top or bottom?" She asked, smirking a little.

His eyes widened comically. " _What?_ "

"We need to switch seats," she said, rolling her eyes and smirking more, "do you want to slide over or get up?"

Oliver's eyes narrowed a little as he realized she was making fun of him. Well, two could play at that game. "Why don't we go with you on top?" he responded with a smirk of his own.

"Wise choice," she told him, not backing down as she slid over to the edge of her seat and held on to the steering wheel then pressed her feet firmly on the ground and lifted her hips as far from the seat as she could.

He drew in a breath, sliding behind her and into the passenger seat, his gaze dropping involuntarily to check out her ass.

Chloe cocked her head a little and looked down at him, making sure he was out of the way and swinging her hips over to the driver's seat, "okay," she told a deep breath, pulling on the seatbelt before reaching to turn the key on the rental, "next time we're in Alaska or any place with snow, I get to drive, you get to drive in places that have... earthquakes or something."

Oliver smirked at her. "You know, you make fun of California, but I bet I've lived through fewer earthquakes than you've lived through blizzards, Watchtower."

"Yeah well, don't forget the tornadoes," she told him, smirking back at him as she turned the key and the car choked. Frowning, she looked down and tried again.

"Oh, come _on_ ," he said in exasperation. This had to be some ridiculous, elaborate prank, or they were having the worst luck ever.

She took a deep breath and tried one more time, "do we have enough gas?" She asked, irritated as she glanced at him.

He made a face at her and pointed to the nearly full gas gauge. "I'm not _that_ stupid."

"Thought I'd check," she said, trying it again.

He cursed under his breath, exhaling and laying his head back against the seat. "All right. We'll just try the cell phones again and see if we can get a hold of Bart."

Chloe forced herself to take a deep breath too and nodded, reaching over for her phone and shaking her head a little, "I have no signal. At all."

Oliver picked up his phone, as well and looked down at it, sighing softly. "That makes two of us."

She rubbed her hand over her face and leaned back against her seat, "we could try to get out through the window, but even if we manage to, according to the map, there is nothing around here."

He pursed his lips, considering for a long moment, really wishing they hadn't told the others they'd just meet up with them the next day. He rubbed a hand over his face, as well, glancing at her. "And it's like minus thirty outside."

"I know..." she sighed, "I'd say let's wait for dawn but we won't even have one, will we?" She asked, her eyes widening as a sudden gust of wind made the car shake.

He grimaced. "I'm not sure we'd actually see it if even there was." He chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"No, not this time of the year." She told him, taking a deep breath and shook her head, "I guess we're stuck here."

Oliver looked out the windshield for a moment. "Are you sure there's nothing nearby?"

"Check the map," she told him and shook her head, "unless it's someone's house, there isn't."

He picked up the map, even though he believed her. He wasn't thrilled with the prospect of spending the night in a small car in the middle of nowhere in the midst of an actual _blizzard_.

"If I had access to the satellite, I could pull up the images and check it out, but if we don't have cell reception, I don't have that either." She told him, watching as the snow started to build up over the hood of the car.

He set the map down once more, leaning forward in the seat. "Maybe I should try anyway," he murmured.

"Oh no," Chloe shook her head, sitting up, "you go, I go. I won't have you die in the middle of the road somewhere and let me die here waiting for rescue like a good damsel in distress, besides, the car needs to be on for the windows to roll down, so we'd have to break our way out and then I'd just freeze to death in here anyway."

Oliver sighed softly. "So we just...sit here and die together?"

She took a deep breath and shook her head, "we put on as many clothes as we can to keep warm and we should probably use as many as blankets as we can too, wait for the blizzard to be over and then we try to get out of here and walk to... wherever it is."

He was silent for a moment. "Chloe?"

"Yeah?" She said, reaching in the back for her backpack then looking at him over her shoulder as she felt her way around the back seat.

He winced a little. "All our extra clothes and things are in Vic's car."

Chloe stilled, pulling back slowly and arching an eyebrow, "Vic, who drove back with Bart and AC about three hours before we did and are probably halfway back to Metropolis by now?" She asked, her expression tensing.

Oliver couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. "That would be the one."

Her jaw clenched and she looked at him, "great," she grunted, sitting back against her seat, "now we die."

"We're _not_ going to die."

"We're stuck here for God knows how long and even if the blizzard stops, we still have to walk at least five to ten miles to the nearest whatever that is to ask for help, without anymore clothes than _this_ ," she said sharply, tugging at her coat that was draped behind the passenger's seat, "with no sun to help us get warm, so, we're pretty much screwed, Oliver."

"Okay, I admit, it seems very bleak," he admitted, grimacing. "But if we don't show up in Metropolis first thing in the morning, the team's going to know something's wrong. They'll send Bart to backtrack and look for us. So we just have to sit tight until that happens."

Chloe shook her head and took a deep breath, remaining silent for a long moment before looking at him then shifting, pulling the driver's seat forward all the way then climbing on it and to the back seat of the car.

He blinked, raising his eyebrows. "Chloe? What are you doing?"

"Well _this_ is much more comfortable than that, if you move that seat forward too, we should have more space," she told him, her back to him as she reached on the top of the back seat and pulled it down, looking in the trunk of the car and shaking her head when she realized it was empty before pulling the seat back up again, "we can lay down in the trunk, there is enough space for both of us, but if we keep the seat up, it will be warmer in here, at least we're not getting any wind right now."

Oliver considered for a moment, watching her intently, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. Then he shifted out of the seat, pushing it forward and crawling into the backseat with her.

Chloe pulled her coat from the back of her seat once he had joined her in the backseat and frowned at the look on his face, "what is that for?"

"What's what for?" he asked uncertainly, leaning back in the seat.

"That look on your face," she told him, wrapping her coat around herself.

He glanced at her sideways, propping his feet up on the passenger seat. "Nothing, really."

She took a deep breath and shrugged, crossing her legs over the seat and pulling the coat higher around herself, "hopefully the blizzard won't last long."

Oliver nodded a little, closing his eyes for a few moments and listening to the wind howl outside the car. It certainly didn't sound like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Chloe shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position and pressed her head against the window on her side as she pulled her knees over her chest, "think we'll make it back for Christmas?"

He winced a little, remembering his promise to have her home for the Kents' annual Christmas Eve celebration that night. "I don't know," he said softly, though he was fairly certain they wouldn't be.

"Well, I guess that's the bright side," she told him, still looking out the window.

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to get out of going since Clark invited me," she admitted, still not looking at him.

"You have?" He frowned.

"Not exactly in the mood to celebrate right now," she told him, pursing her lips together and raising her eyebrows.

Oliver was quiet for a moment. "Yeah. Me either," he admitted.

Chloe lifted her head and finally turned to look at him, "looks like we won't have to worry about it." She said quietly.

He hadn't been anyway. He'd pretty much planned to lock himself in his penthouse and drink till he passed out for the rest of the time. "I guess not."

"What were you going to do?" She asked, shifting on her seat and leaning against the back of it instead of the window.

He shrugged a little. "Nothing productive," he admitted, glancing at her once more and then wrapping his arm around her shoulders and tugging her close to his side, tired of seeing her squirm around.

"What are you doing?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and stilling as he pulled her closer to him.

"Helping you get more comfortable and...keeping us both from freezing?" he asked hesitantly, glancing at her sideways as he realized how intrusive the move had been.

She pursed her lips together and considered him for a moment then sighed and adjusted to the position, leaning into him slightly. 

"Hopefully I'm more comfortable than the window." Amusement tugged at his mouth.

"Well you have the body heat thing going for you, I don't think this is a fair fight." She pointed out, relaxing a little.

"Didn't realize it was a fight," he teased, glancing down at her.

"A competition?" She suggested, adjusting her coat so it was over both of their laps. 

He considered that for a moment, then grinned a little. "Better."

"Are you warm enough?" She asked, looking up at him once she was satisfied with the positioning of the coat. 

Oliver nodded a little, meeting her eyes. "I'm good. Are you?"

"Yeah," she told him quietly, still looking up at him.

"Good." He shifted a little, then leaned his head against hers.

Chloe paused and looked down, but didn't pull away since he seemed to want to use her head as headrest, "you were going to spend Christmas alone, weren't you?"

He was silent for a moment, then shrugged a little. "It's just another day."

"Is that how you usually spend it?" She asked quietly, turning her body toward him a little more.

Oliver sighed softly. "Like I said, it's just another day, Chloe."

"When was the last time you celebrated it?" She asked quietly, hesitating for a second before wrapping her arm around him. 

He was a little surprised when she wrapped her arm around his waist, but he shrugged a little, thinking about it. "About ten years ago."

"How was it?" she asked, lifting her head to look at him again.

He grimaced a little. "Forced."

Chloe wrinkled her nose at that and cocked her head, "how is that?"

"How was it forced?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

"Yeah," she asked curiously.

"Tess wanted to celebrate it," he told her without much emotion in his voice.

" _Oh_ ," Chloe nodded, pursing her lips together, "right. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring her up."

"It's okay," he told her with a shrug.

Chloe nodded a little and took a deep breath, "do you want to get some sleep?" She offered, chewing on the inside of her lip.

"Why? Are you sleepy?" he asked, glancing down at her.

"No," she told him, "but I thought you might be, since you were doing all the physical part of the mission..."

"Well, not _all_ of it. I'm actually still kind of keyed up," he admitted. Truthfully he rarely slept the night of a mission. He guessed there was just too much adrenaline in his system to sleep.

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, taking a deep breath, "me too." She smiled a little at him, "I guess we're stuck talking to each other, then."

Oliver smiled back faintly. "Well, better you than being stuck with the guys. They're not very good conversationalists," he told her.

"And I'm guessing this cuddling for warmth thing would be a little more awkward with one of them," she teased, smirking a little.

"I'd rather freeze," he responded with a smirk of his own.

"That wouldn't be very smart, besides, no one would have to know, it wouldn't hurt your reputation or anything," she pointed out, cocking her head.

Oliver rolled his eyes at her. "Right."

"Unless someone took pictures, that'd be kinda hot..." she teased.

"Someone could always take pictures of _us_ ," he responded with a smirk.

"Sure," she said, rolling her eyes, "but there is no gay subtext to this." 

"No, definitely no gay subtext," he agreed, raising his eyebrows as he gazed down at her, still smirking.

"So there would be no shock for the tabloids and what is the fun in that?" She teased, watching him.

"I could think of a lot of _fun_ in that," he told her, smirk widening.

"Yeah?" Chloe said, surprised as she cocked her head, not sure what to make of this whole thing, "what kind of fun?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "Be creative, Watchtower."

She cocked her head and smirked, "are we talking about your arrows here?"

He chuckled. "Why? Are you hoping for an archery lesson?"

"Are you offering?" She asked, cocking her head a little more as she studied him. 

He studied her for a moment in return. "If you're interested."

Chloe had absolutely no idea what this was all about or where this was going, but she raised her eyebrows and nodded anyway, "sounds intriguing." 

"Archery is more of an art than a sport," he told her, searching her eyes.

"Is that my first lesson?" She asked, holding his gaze.

He nodded slightly, not looking away. "It has to be done carefully, with precision. Respect."

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes a little wider than normal as she listened, the intensity of his words and gaze making her feel a lot warmer than she'd been. 

Oliver searched her eyes. "And you have to make sure the target is secure. You don't want to wind up obliterating it, even on accident."

"Right," she said, barely listening to his words as she studied his face, "secure." 

He shifted a little beside her, so he was turned toward her more, his heart beating a little more quickly in his chest.

Her own heart was beating fast against her chest and she sat up a little, looking at him for a long moment then leaning closer, but just slightly. 

His gaze dropped involuntarily to her mouth and then darted back up to her eyes before his arm tightened around her just a little. "Maybe we've been doing things wrong all along," he murmured.

Chloe blinked a couple of times, her arm tightening slightly around him too as he pulled her a little closer, "how so?"

"Pursuing people that aren't necessarily what we're really looking for," he said softly, their faces so close now he could feel her breath against his skin.

"Oh," she breathed quietly, blinking a couple of times and pulling away slightly, "I'm not interested in pursuing anything."

"Not even Jimmy?" He searched her eyes, watching her carefully.

She let out a breath and finally broke eye contact, "especially not with him."

He shifted a little, lifting a hand to her face. "Good. Because you can do better."

Chloe blinked a few times, holding her breath as she lifted her head to look at him again.

Oliver gazed at her once more, then dipped his head a little, brushing his nose lightly against hers and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth, waiting for her reaction.

Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened, part of her was screaming for her to pull away, but before she knew what she was doing, she had turned her head, her lips brushing against his. 

For a moment, he was surprised she had actually responded to the kiss, but then his instincts took over and he kissed her back without hesitation, one hand sliding into her hair gently. It wasn't the first time he'd thought about kissing her, especially not since she joined the team full time over a month and a half ago. The more he worked with her, by her side, the more he found himself drawn to her. And while he'd thought about it, nothing had prepared him for the spark that flew through him when they kissed. It was intense, powerful. Like someone had flipped a switch inside him.

She felt the spark too and she was just as surprised as he was, all her instincts that had been screaming for her to pull away had been silenced as she lifted a hand to his hair just as the kiss deepened.

It wasn't until she had completely run out of breath that she forced herself to pull away from him, taking a deep breath and looking up at him, her eyes wide, dark.

"Suddenly feeling a lot less cold in here," he murmured, staring at her, his own eyes dark.

She let out her breath and smiled a little, looking down and nodding. The fact that this was a bad idea became clearer again now that his lips weren't on hers.

"Chloe?"

Chloe paused and looked up at him again. 

He leaned in and kissed her once more wordlessly. She stilled for a moment, then closing her eyes tightly, returned the kiss, finding herself unable not to.

Oliver groaned softly as she responded to the kiss once more, cupping her face in his hand and deepening it slowly.

She shivered slightly when he groaned, lifting both hands to his arms and shifting closer to him on the seat, her brain completely shutting down once more as she parted her lips under his.

He slid his tongue lightly along her lips, then slid it inside her mouth slowly, pulling her against him. Chloe made a quiet noise against his lips as she lifted her hand to the back of his neck and pulled him closer.

Without really thinking about it, he pulled her onto his lap, his hands sliding up and under her coat at the back.

She wasn't thinking about anything either, just how much more comfortable the position was and how much warmer she felt as she shifted even closer to him, sliding her fingers into his hair once more as she wrapped her other arm around his shoulders. 

If someone had told him yesterday that today he'd be making out in his car with Chloe Sullivan, he would have scoffed, if only because he'd assumed she'd shove him away as fast as she could. But she was doing the opposite, and he felt a lot warmer than he had only moments before. Plus she fit into his arms and his lap perfectly. He shifted a little beneath her, sliding his hands a little higher up her back.

Chloe shivered a little and leaned against him, breaking the kiss once more after a while but this time, she kept her eyes closed as she rested her forehead against his.

He gazed at her from under his eyelashes, wondering what was going on in her mind.

She opened her eyes a moment later, when she felt his eyes on her and took a deep breath, smiling slightly, "this is warmer," she murmured. 

Oliver couldn't help but grin at her remark. "Definitely warmer," he agreed with a slight nod.

"Are you comfortable?" She asked quietly, brushing her nose against his without thinking about it.

"Extremely," he said honestly, his fingers trailing lightly up and down her spine. "Are you?"

Chloe shivered at that and held her breath a little, nodding, "yeah..."

"Good," he murmured, watching her for a moment before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss against her jaw.

She closed her eyes again, running her fingers through his hair as she lifted her head for him just slightly, not allowing herself to think about this or Jimmy or anything else. 

Oliver smiled against her skin at the slight encouraging movement and kissed her again, pausing for a moment as he spotted the clock on his cell phone. "Merry Christmas," he whispered.

Chloe paused at that and pulled back a little, "is it Christmas?" 

He nodded slightly, gazing at her. "Yeah. It's just after Midnight."

"Oh," she smiled a little, "Merry Christmas."

His lips curved upwards in a small smile of his own. "This easily rates as one of the best ones I can remember."

Her chest tightened a little at that and she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her a little, "maybe next year, we can have a proper one that doesn't suck." She suggested. 

"I don't think it sucks at all," he told her, kissing her ear.

Chloe shivered a little and shook her head, "I don't think it sucks, either, but you should have a real one." She told him, pulling back to look at him. 

"What's so great about it?" he asked quietly, gazing at her.

"It's comfortable," she told him, shrugging a little, "being with the people you care about, there is something safe about it."

Oliver's expression softened a little at her words. "Yeah, I get that," he murmured.

"So next year," she smiled a little, "instead of trying to run away from it and being stuck somewhere again, we can just have a quiet celebration with the boys." 

"The boys have families," he said softly. "AC has his dad and Bart has an uncle..."

"Oh," she paused a little and shrugged, "I guess you're stuck with me, then."

"Can't think of anyone I'd rather be stuck with," he told her affectionately.

Her face softened a little and she smiled slightly, nodding before shrugging and leaning in, kissing him again. She still had no idea what this was all about, but she wasn't going to ask him now, at least he wasn't alone on Christmas and she wasn't stuck at the Kent's trying to put on a smile and answer questions she didn't want to.

* * * 

He awoke a couple hours later to the feel of Chloe shivering against him in her sleep. Groaning at the cold against his cheeks, he rubbed her back a little, trying to warm her and his hands at the same time.

Chloe shifted slightly and opened her eyes slowly when he groaned, shifting even closer to him instinctively because of the cold, despite the fact they were pressed right up against each other, their legs tangled, their arms around one another and her coat covering them, it was still cold. 

"You're freezing," he mumbled, barely able to keep his teeth from chattering.

"So are you," she whispered, noticing then just how tense her body was because it was so cold. She lifted her head a little, her eyes widening when she saw the entire back window was completely covered in snow, turning her head, she realized the front one was too, "we have to get out of here."

"We can't." He winced a little, sitting up just a bit. "You hear that wind? We really will freeze to death."

"The car is covered in snow," she told him urgently, her eyes widening as she sat up too.

"I know." He gripped gently onto her arms. "It's actually a good thing. It'll help insulate the heat we do have."

"And if someone drives by, now one will find us," she told him, a little panicked as she shuddered, this time because of the cold.

"Chloe? Breathe," he said firmly, sensing her panic. "Right now it's only like 3 a.m. No one's going to find us in the middle of night anyway."

"We can't even see outside anymore," she told him, taking a deep breath.

"I know," he assured her. "When the wind dies down, I'll get out and clean off the car."

"We have to go when it dies down, Oliver," she shook her head, "we will run out of air if we're-" she swallowed, "buried."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed a little at the catch in her voice. "I'm not going to let that happen, okay?"

"We have to get out," she told him, lowering her voice and holding his gaze.

He held her gaze, nodding slightly. "We will," he promised, his voice quiet. "We're not going to die in this car, okay?"

Her jaw clenched a little and she looked toward the windows, she'd been fine in there while they could still see outside but now, she was trying to control herself and wasn't really being able to.

"Look at me." He was now using his 'leader' voice.

Chloe stilled, looking at him and swallowing hard.

"There's a safety release in the trunk that will unlock it. If nothing else, we'll crawl out that way."

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard once more, "I don't like enclosed spaces like this."

He watched her for a moment, lifting a hand to her face. "Close your eyes."

She blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath then did as he told her to.

Oliver gently tugged her head back down so it was resting against his chest once more and he rubbed her back. "The beach is _amazing_. Listen to those waves hitting the sand."

Chloe frowned and opened her eyes, shaking her head but didn't try to pull away, he was warm, "you don't have to do this."

"Shh, you're killing the mood, Sidekick."

She took a deep breath and looked up at him, shaking her head a little.

He winked at her. "Close 'em."

Chloe sighed and closed her eyes once more, her fingers twisting around his sweater as she tried not to think about the reason why she was so terrified of being buried alive, again.

"Pretty sure AC could wrangle up some dolphins if you wanted to swim with them." His voice was light, his fingers combing through her hair without thinking about how intimate of a gesture it was.

"Have you ever seen him talking to them?" She whispered a moment later.

"No, but Bart has." He smiled a bit. "I'm told it's 'incredibly cool.'"

She sighed deeply but kept her eyes closed, nodding a little as she turned her head against his chest.

"We have a pretty amazing team, you know?" His voice was quiet, contemplative. "One of them can communicate with sea life...one can run faster than the speed of light...one can process information at the speed of light and hack into any database on the planet...one wrangles all of us into being manageable without batting an eyelash."

At that, Chloe opened her eyes and looked up at him, "and an archer who never misses a target."

"Well, _almost_ never." He smiled a bit.

"When did you ever miss a target?" She asked, "I've never seen it happen."

"Oh, I have." He grinned a little at the dubiousness in her tone. "It's just rare. There is actually someone out there who never misses."

"Who?" She asked, focusing on him, her fingers still wrapped tightly around his sweater as she lifted her head to look better at him.

"His name's Vortigan," he told her quietly. "He was my mentor." He met her eyes.

"I didn't know you had a mentor, I thought you picked it up on the island," she told him, resting her free hand on his chest and her chin over it.

He nodded a little. "I did. Most of it. But after I got back...after I screwed things up with Tess...I joined a society for bowmen." He was quiet for a moment. "It was sort of an...underground thing," he admitted.

"Like a secret society?" She asked curiously.

Oliver nodded, meeting her eyes again. "Yeah. Not necessarily the kind you want to be a part of."

"Is that where you got the idea for the team?"

A short, humorless chuckle escaped him. "No. Not at all."

Chloe frowned, cocking her head as she waited for him to go on.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "They're not exactly the kind of people you'd want to run into if you're in trouble. Or ever."

"How did you get out?" She asked quietly, studying him.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "I just left," he admitted. "And I never went back. They had a creed. 'No lovers, no allies, no disciples.'"

"Oh..." she frowned, "sounds awfully lonely."

He nodded a little, falling silent once more.

"I'm glad you got out," Chloe said quietly, looking at him.

"I definitely keep better company these days," he said just as quietly, gazing back at her.

She watched him for a long moment then leaned in, kissing him softly. He kissed her back without hesitation, his hand tangling in her hair. Chloe slowly pulled her fingers away from his sweater and shifted closer to him, deepening the kiss.

Oliver parted his lips to give her access to his mouth even as one hand slid beneath her jacket to caress her back. She shifted, shivering as his cold hand touched her skin, then moved closer so she was half laying on top of him.

He deepened the kiss, one hand sliding to rest on the back of her neck, and then he froze. "Did you hear that?"

She blinked and still, nodding when she heard something that sounded like someone digging the snow around the car. "Yeah," She told him, pushing herself up and kneeling on the seat.

"Bossman? 'Licious?" Bart yanked open the driver's side door, worry clear in his voice.

Chloe's eyes widened when she saw Bart, but mostly because of the cold wind that invaded the car, "Bart!?" She said, surprised.

Oliver reluctantly let go of her, waving a hand up at the younger man. "She's freezing, get her back home, okay?"

Bart nodded and reached in, reaching for Chloe's hand to help her to the front seat before picking her up, Chloe barely had time to whisper something in his ear before they vanished.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly as the two of them vanished from sight. He leaned his head against the cold window, shutting his eyes. Back to reality.

The wind became stronger and Bart showed up again, "your turn boss."

Nodding, Oliver rubbed a hand over his face tiredly and crawled up into the front seat, then out of the car, shivering involuntarily against the cold.

Bart picked him up and ran him to the Clocktower, "going back to check if there is anyone else out there," he said quickly, before vanishing once more.

Still shivering, he started to head for the sofa when he caught sight of Chloe already curled up there. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but he'd figured Bart would take her back to her Talon apartment with Lois.

"I hope you don't mind," she told him, arms wrapped around herself as she tried to warm up, "I asked him to bring me here."

"No, it's fine," he said without hesitation. He pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and draped it around her shoulders.

"It's still Christmas," she told him, "I didn't think either one of us should be alone."

Oliver met her eyes for a moment. "You really want to spend your Christmas with me?"

"Can't think of a better way to spend it," she told him quietly, sincerely as she looked up at him, smiling a little. She didn't know what made her say that, but she meant it. At least with Oliver, there were no expectations.

A soft, but sincere smile touched his lips. "Me either," he said just as quietly.

Chloe smiled a little more and pulled the blanket open, holding it out to him as she watched him.

He held her gaze for a moment, then walked around to the front of the sofa, dropping onto the seat right beside her and sliding his arm around her waist.

She leaned into him as she shifted closer and took a deep breath, smiling softly at him. She still had no idea what this was, but now wasn't the time to find out.

"Merry Christmas, Chloe," he whispered, kissing her temple.

"Merry Christmas, Ollie," she told him quietly, closing her eyes and wrapping her arm around him. 

Oliver smiled and closed his eyes, too. 

Maybe Christmas wasn't so terrible after all.


End file.
